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Ben sorry, Rashard not, as Steelers' soap drama continues

Ben Roethlisberger offered an apology but Rashard Mendenhall did not in the latest episode of 'As The Steelers Turn'.

The soap opera that has been the 2012 season took another twist when Roethlisberger apologized, not necessarily for what he said after Sunday's game that some took as criticism of coordinator Todd Haley, but for his words being misinterpreted and causing a "storm."

"I came in and I apologized to Todd, I apologized to Mike [Tomlin] and I apologized to Mr. Rooney because I let my frustrations jump out after a game," Roethlisberger said. "I don't usually do that. Usually, I keep it under control. I was just frustrated with myself and I'll be better at that."

After his interception in overtime set up the winning score in their 27-24 loss to Dallas, Roethlisberger accepted blame. He also mentioned a call was made on a 30-yard touchdown pass to Heath Miller that turned out not to be a good call because the Cowboys dropped into a prevent defense.

It was no criticism of the original play-call, Roethlisberger said.

"What I said was they called a prevent defense and the play we had called was not a good play call. The play was called before we saw the defense. They just came out in a defense that had us thumped. There was nothing we could do. We just improvised and made a play. It had nothing to do with seeing a defense and calling a bad play. It was just that the play that was called, they ran the perfect defense for it. We improvised and Heath made a play."

As for his comments that they stopped throwing to Miller in the second half after he caught six passes in the first, Roethlisberger explained this way:

"Any time you have a pass play you have multiple options. We usually don't just send one guy out. There's probably opportunities that anybody can get the ball, whether they're open, whether they're covered, whether I don't see them, there are always things that are like that. There were probably times that I didn't see Heath in the second half that he was open, as with Mike [Wallace], Antonio [Brown], Emmanuel [Sanders] and anybody else that was out there."

Mendenhall made no apologies for skipping the game at Heinz Field Dec. 9, an action that drew a one-week suspension (and loss of $41,000 in salary) from Tomlin that ended Monday.

"I'm really not trying to go back into that," Mendenhall said at first. "It's good to be back."

But when told that Tomlin used the word "frustration" to describe how Mendenhall felt, the halfback disputed that.

"I wouldn't use that word," Mendenhall said about his reasons for not attending the game. "There's a lot of thought that goes into everything that I do."

Mendenhall practiced with the team on Wednesday. Tomlin has not indicated whether Mendenhall will dress for Sunday's game against Cincinnati or not.

I don't understand the fascination with Mendenhall. He was healthy and in the dog house too long so he didn't show for the game. He was suspended as a direct result and was likely told not to talk about it to the media. I know things are tough with the Steelers right now but come on this isn't even worth talking about. You also have people playing up the relationship between Ben and Haley to crazy proportions. As long as they aren't going at one another WHO THE HELL CARES because they're both going to do their jobs and we don't need another coordinator like Arians that is going to fist bump Ben up and down the sideline. Personally I hope they put Mendenhall to use much sooner than later because he has the ability to help this team.

EDIT: On top of that Ed was on The Fan yesterday and downplayed the Haley/Ben thing himself and now he's writing about it?

Just keep that shovel in your hands Mendenhall.... I don't think you dug yourself a deep enough hole yet.

I was just listening to the interview in the car less than an hour ago. He didn't say anything wrong and simply didn't want to go back and address the suspension. Why should he? He owes the fans an apology for not showing up to the game as a inactive? If anything he should apologize to his teammates and guess what I'm SURE HE HAS.

The second half of his statement is telling. Says him not showing up to the game was calculated and intentional. He was making a statement. I just wish these guys would make statements with their PLAY and not their mouths. Too many talkers on the team, and not enough doers.

What I care about most right now is what Ben and Rashard do to win the next game, and the one after that, and on and on. How about what somebody asks them is what they are going to do to win the next game.